In the field of ironing garments and other articles requiring this treatment, various types of equipment and means are known which are composed of one or more elements which apply heat or apply heat and steam, such as the traditional iron, manual presses, mechanized presses, roller machines, as well as air- and steam-pressure devices such as ironing dummies
It is known that the traditional iron, indispensable for the treatment of some articles or parts of an article, although very widespread and satisfactory in its household use, has only a small working surface which makes this piece of equipment unsatisfactorily expensive for someone working in the ironing trade who, for reasons of productivity and profitability, currently needs to treat the articles or parts of an article which have a large surface area using means which are more productive and are more convenient to use.
It is also known that manual or mechanical ironing presses give very good results in terms of productivity and the quality of the work in ironing articles or parts of articles which have a large surface area or are compatible with the use of this means.
As for devices for steam-ironing on a dummy, it will be noted that, although this means is relatively productive, the results obtained are not always as satisfactory as those obtained with a press and/or with a traditional iron, in particular in the ironing of some types of textiles.
If the advantages and disadvantages of the various known means described hereinabove are considered, it will be noticed that the systematic ironing of a large number of articles, for example in the field of clothing and furnishing, would have to go through partial-treatment operations on the press for their large surface areas and through finishing operations on work stations equipped with an ironing table and a traditional iron. In this process it will be noticed that the saving in time obtained by using the press will be lost in part by handling, and that the organization of the work will present considerable stresses.